Ian, I think you made some very good points.

I think of myself on the less-sensitive end of the spectrum. But tasting with
some more sensitive folks has led me to perhaps be a little better at detecting
lesser concentrations of TCA. When I encounter a bottle that seems to lack
fruit vs. what I expect, I go looking for mustiness. Sometimes I find it,
sometimes not. I'd say that my experience is now in the 5-8% range. I find it
believable that 10+% of the bottles I drink could be contaminated.

While I am a supporter of switching to screwcaps, I still support better
quality control for those that do use natural cork- I never again want to have
a corked bottle of Lafleur!

I've also heard some reports that there have been real improvements with some
synthetic corks (the extruded ones seem clearly better than the others), and
don't mind those on "drink now" wines.

best,
Dale

Dale Williams
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